The present cleaning and waxing tool is a hand-held apparatus adapted to be employed as part of a system for cleaning, waxing and/or polishing automobiles, vans, motor homes, boats, airplanes, etc. For purposes of convenience, the tool will be referred to as a hand-held orbital automobile polisher.
Hand-held orbital automobile polishers have long been manufactured by applicants and others, reference being made to applicants' U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,682. Applicants' polishers now on the market have a one-pound counterweight, and are relatively high-powered and heavy. It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a hand-held orbital polisher that is relatively small and light in weight, has less power, and has a much smaller counterweight, yet will do a highly satisfactory job of polishing automobiles, etc. Another objective of the invention is to achieve smoothness and efficiency of polishing action, while avoiding any tendency to grab, bounce or stall, in a polisher that is so small and light that it may be purchased for relatively low price and then used for long periods of time without substantial difficulty or strain, even by individuals who are not strong.
Much experimentation has gone into the creation of the counterweight that--in combination with the motor--is the heart of the present polisher. This has resulted in a counterweight weighing only a little over one-third pound, and capable of economical mass production, yet which works so well in combination with the motor, housing and pad that the orbital polishing action of the apparatus is highly smooth and satisfactory. In the polisher greatly preferred by applicants, no gearing is employed, there being a direct drive from a D.C. motor to the polishing pad.